This book was built to be a book club read, or at the very least, to make its reader think incredibly deeply. There are so may topics of importance - family, homophobia, systemic and small-town racism, self-acceptance, sorrow and grief, and how we prioritize what to stand for and what to let pass us by. We Deserve Monuments is a special breed of YA that I find rare to come by nowadays - it's the kind of YA that doesn't hold back from the hard shit. It's the kind of YA that features young adult characters dealing with adult things.

This book was heavy for many reasons, but don't let that hold you back.

4.5 rounded up!

I am honestly in awe of this book! It is an absolute masterpiece and I advise you all to go and pick up a copy when it comes out at the end of November 2022. I listened to the audiobook (thank you Netgalley and RB Media for giving me a chance to review this book) but definitely will also be picking up a physical copy soon. The audiobook version was excellent and Tamika Katon-Donegal is a master-narrator, they absolutely do the book justice!

It's hard to talk about this book without giving away too much about the plot for me. So I will keep this review short. We Deserve Monuments is a coming-of-age story featuring a mixed-race queer main character who moves to a small town to help her severely ill grandmother. This book broke my heart and healed it in more ways than one. I am never at a loss for words but this book, it's just... I just need you all to go read it!!!

We Deserve Monuments is a coming of age story that follows Avery, a queer biracial teen who moves back to her mothers small hometown to help take care of her dying grandmother she doesn't really know.

This story is a slow build where you get to uncover the past of each character to understand why there is such a rift to the family. Why her mother never wanted to come back. To why she has a armor on.

This story really digs deep into trauma, homophobia anti people of color. This story takes place in a small town in the south where even in the year 2022 shows the backwards of people/towns to this day.

Avery is trying to understand her family's past how come she doesn't know things how much harder it is to deal with certain things in this town. All the struggles she already had to the new ones. This was a hard seeing things through their eyes.


Now Mama Letty, her story was by far the most heartbreaking. Her story really highlights the history of the past and how something have changed but also have stayed the same but the hate is sometimes hidden. Her telling her story really broke my heart.

This story isn't just hitting on the hard issues but its also having the families come together and talk about the past the hard issues no one wants to bring up but you have to to heal. How you can help other people grow and come into themselves and sometimes finding out who you really are and healing.

This is an incredible debut, you will laugh and cry and just feel so much from this story sometimes learning your past can help you learn who you are.

I listen to the audio and it was incredible.

Thank you NetGalley Macmillan Children’s Pub for providing Audio Arc in exchange for a honest review.

#WeDeserveMonuments #NetGalley

I don't know if I can properly express how amazing this book was, but I will make the attempt.

I received a free arc of this audiobook to listen to and review. I'm not sure if I read the full description for this book when I requested it from NetGalley, because if I had, I wouldn't have requested it, and that would have been a shame. I say that because I just lost my grandmother earlier this year, and this book had me ugly crying. I didn't cry just because of my loss, but because anyone would have empathized with what Avery was going through. I ran the whole gamut of emotions listening to this book!

We follow Avery, a 17-year-old high school senior, who was uprooted from her home in D.C., and relocated to a small town in Georgia so the family could be with her terminally ill grandmother during her last months of life. Her grandmother, Mama Letty, is as mean and surly as they come, and there is a whole lot of tension between her and Avery's mother that the teen knew nothing about prior to their trip. Avery mad a plan to keep her head down, keep to herself, get through the school year, and then head off to college. That plan flew out the window when she met Simone and her best friend, Jade. The two girls befriend Avery and almost immediately have her questioning who Avery is as an individual, and whether her old friends from D.C. were actually her true friends. Avery suddenly became determined to get to know her grandmother while she still had time to do so.

It took weeks of coaxing, prodding, and patience before she made any headway with Mama Letty, but eventually she did, and their true relationship begins to develop. Once that happened, a floodgate of family secrets and trauma was opened, and it threw the entirety of the family into chaos. Avery was then dealing with her mother and grandmother's anger and resentment toward one another, the fact that she was attracted to her (straight) new BFF, Simone, and coming to terms with the fact that her old friends had been hindering her from being who she wanted (and was meant) to be. Oh, and the fact that she now loved her grandmother, despite all that has passed between grandmother and mother, and she regretted all the time they didn't have together.

This book was full of discovery, both amazing and terrible. The author dealt with intergenerational family trauma, coming of age, coming out, love, and resentment. There was so much sadness and hurt, but there was growth, sorrow, and forgiveness. It was absolutely beautifully written. The characters were so likeable, (even Mama Letty in her way), and relatable. This was one of the most beautiful books I've ever read.

When Avery Anderson must move to small town Georgia for her senior year so he parents can care for her grumpy ailing long estranged grandma, Avery quickly makes friendships with Simone and Jade that immediately feel deeper and more supportive than what she had in DC but these friends come with painful backstories that include the unsolved mystery of the murder of Jade’s mom and as Avery’s friendship with Simone grows into something more, the racism and bigotry that intertwine Avery and Jade’s families are brought to light.

This book perfectly depicts how frightening it feels to grow up LGBTQ+ in the South and how grief that is hidden away can boil over into something much darker I loved this story and how unapologetically herself Avery was. The twist at the end was very unexpected.

WOW! Such a heavy read. I'm not going to lie, I cried. I felt this book in different ways. It is a great coming of age story and it was told in a way that made you feel like you were there. I'd recommend this to anyone to read or listen to! The narration was great too!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC, in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this book. It's a YA novel, but it talks about some very large topics - racism, LGBTQIA+, the pandemic, family issues, death, grief and healing; and it handles them all very well. It's one of the first fiction books I've read that has incorporated the pandemic into it and how it affected the characters.
I thought this was very well written. It was descriptive enough where I could picture the characters and places in my mind, but not so descriptive where it felt the story was getting weighed down with minute details.

The narration was great and I really enjoyed listening to this book.

5/5 stars

We Deserve Monuments is Jas Hammonds’ powerful debut novel. It is a gripping coming of age story that follows Avery, a queer, biracial teenager through her senior year of high school. Avery moves from DC to small town in Georgia to help out her grandmother (Mama Letty), who was diagnosed with late stage cancer.

This book follows Avery’s story, as she navigates exploring her family’s history and reopening traumas that have plagued her family for generations. She grapples with her identity, friendship, and romance while also unraveling the secrets of her family and town. Along the way, she deals with issues of racism, homophobia, and intergenerational trauma. It is part character study, part mystery, part familial drama, and all heart.

Hammonds breathes life into each of the characters and writes them in such a powerful and thought provoking way. Each character if fully imagined, flawed, and so compelling. I wanted each one to have their own story all to themselves. I instantly fell in love with Avery and her two best friends (Jade and Simone), but also Mama Letty and Avery’s mom (Zora) too. Hammonds has a clear ability to transport you into their lives and makes you feel as though you are sitting alongside them as they bicker, laugh, reminisce, and love one another.

This book makes you feel deeply and care intimately about each of the characters. You’ll feel all the happiest and saddest moments profoundly. Definitely grab a box of tissues - you’ll need them throughout.

I can’t recommend this book enough and I’m excited to see what Hammonds writes next! Thanks to RB Media and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this audiobook!

D.C. native Avery is forced to spend her senior year in a small Georgian town when her mom returns home to care for her terminally ill and estranged grandma, Mama Letty. In order survive one year without her friends and the city that she loves, Avery plans is to focus forward, until she can go back to D.C. to attend Georgetown, her dream school. But a funny thing happens during her stay in Bardell, she makes friends, she bonds with Mama Letty, tastes the sweet fruit of forbidden love, and learns the importance of focusing on the present. Yet, in the deep South, the present is always closely tied to the past, and new friends have long legacies both to the town and to Avery's family. As Avery learns to focus on the now, will what happened in the past impact, where she end up in the future? Check out Jas Hammond's extraordinary We Deserve Monuments and experience this wonderful queer coming of age mystery for yourself.

We Deserve Monuments is simply fantastic. Jas Hammond's writes a book which gives the reader both excellent prose and a meticulous plot, combined with wonderful yet heart wrenching queer romance. I cannot stress enough how excellent this audiobook was to experience, the narrator Tamika Katon Donegal is simply put amazing. Ms. Donegal brought all the wonderful characters to life with unique accents and great candence and timely inflection which always matched the tone of the book.
If you enjoy coming of age mysteries which deeply explores, love, loss, and legacy then this audiobook is definitely for you.

Going into this book, I didn’t quite know what to expect, and to say it was a pleasant surprise is an understatement. I was immersed in the story, in part a product of growing up in the suburban South, and also because of the very fitting narration of Tamika Katon-Donegal. The coming-of-age narrative develops in a way that feels so genuine, as well as weaving in the elements of drama, romance, mystery, and identity. It is absolutely worth the read.

Avery’s character is so strong, and yet felt so real. Jas Hammonds has created the story of a queer character where queerness is central to her character and evident, but it isn’t the story. She just is. Even more, she develops in community, and in finding support outside of an idealized narrative. As someone who’s newly in college, this felt like such a heartfelt and realistic take on being a senior in high school, of being high achieving and dealing with the dissolution of that success ideal.

Both writing and plot-wise, this story is crafted so intriguingly. While it follows a clear arc, there is a sense of uncertainty with the end; really just that a real story doesn’t just end when you turn to the acknowledgements. I keep repeating that it felt so genuine and real but it does. There may be little comments or moments that don’t feel realistic, but at heart it truly does. It kept me on my toes and wrapped up in the world, even beyond that of Avery.

As themes, grief and identity are so intertwined. It was hard to read about a grandparent that you’re losing and feeling as if you’ve lost the chance to get to know them anyway. I kept thinking about my own experiences with it. And on the other hand, it did bring a sense of peace to that point, that there is no perfect ending but to cherish what you have, to live and to be when you know there isn’t a perfect, certain ending.

I don’t think I’m fully capable of summing up this book, or even my thoughts on it. It’s well written, heartfelt, and well worth the read.

This is hard to write a review for since this was such a heartfelt story that covered a lot of ground. It was a very well-written and emotional YA coming-of-age about love, friendship, loss, family, and generational trauma.

The writing really shone through in the characters. Everyone in Bardell has such a distinct personality, and Avery has such a clear voice.

There's a lot of topics and themes covered in this book, but nothing felt overcrowded. The pacing was perfectly structured.

This is definitely an author I'll be coming back to.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
We Deserve Monuments is a stunning coming of age story. It's the perfect story for girls who don't have it all figured out yet. The characters in this book are so real. It took no time at all to feel for Avery as she tried to navigate through messy family relationships and friendships. This was a very emotional story. My heart broke again for Avery and the secrets that plagued her family. The narrator did an amazing job bringing the story to life. This is a must read for YA lovers.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This book tells us the story of Avery who in his last year of high school, and with all his future prepared in Washington D.C. her parents decide to go to live in the town where she grew up, her mother. Since her grandmother is quite sick and they want to take care of her.
But the problem is that they haven't been in that town for more than 10 years, and Avery's grandmother and Avery's mother don't exactly get along.
Avery will have to adapt her life to that town, with her new friends, and in the process, she will discover things that perhaps it was better not to know about the past of her family and the town.

It is a novel I have listened to in audiobook format while doing university work. And the experience has been very pleasant, since I have really enjoyed listening to it, and suffered just as if I were reading it.
A book that transports you to a small town in the United States, where you better not go out of what is considered to be normal and not attract too much attention.
Where the protagonist discovers a life totally different from what she had and evolves as a person, being aware of how she really is. Finding all the secrets that her family had and didn't tell her. We see how a group of friends can change a person, in a good way. How to love it could make a difference in a person, and sometimes how scary it is.
We also see resentment, forgiveness, and death in this book. Where they tell us about past events, and the damage they continue to cause more than 20 years later.
This a book that I will recommend to everyone that asks for a book. It's a great book to see, no matter the time it passes. Always there is the possibility of forgiveness in this life.

This one is definitely a Morris Award Contender! This journey of identity, family, and deep secrets will draw readers in and captivate them. Narrator was a good fit for the characters and mood.

This book!! I can't believe that this is the author's debut novel.

Meet Avery who is a queer biracial teen who has recently moved to a small southern town with her parents to help her dying grandmother. Unfortunately for Avery, she doesn't know her grandmother very well. There's family trauma and it makes it very difficult for Avery to get to know Mama Letty.

This book touches on so many hard topics and Avery had to navigate through them. There is a mixture of sadness, joy, and love that happens in this book. It was easy to love Avery, and root for her. Small towns have so many dark secrets, and every family has its own secrets. This story does not disappoint. We get to see Mama Letty's story about discrimination and her love story.

I felt like I was there beside Avery, envisioning her surroundings. While the book is a slow burn at the beginning, hang in there because it picks up pace and it's a very captivated read. At one point, it shocked me with a discovery.
If you're an audiobook junkie, be sure to grab it. The narrator, Tamika Katon-Donegal did a superb job portraying Avery, Mama Letty and many other characters. I absolutely loved the tones and inflections used.
Grab a box of Kleenex. Trust me, you'll need it.

Special thanks to RB Media and Netgalley for the ALC.
Publishes 11/28.

First let me say, I absolutely love the cover! It drew me in, and I’m glad that it did as I enjoyed “We Deserve Monuments”. It deals with many heavy topics - terminal illness, estranged family relationships and struggles with acceptance. The author managed to show how the generational trauma can have long lasting consequences in the lives of young people today. The narrator did a wonderful job, I’m sure this will be a very popular YA book.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Family drama, love story, and mystery all in one — I loved the way We Deserve Monuments had so many layers and each were done successfully. It's not often that a single book can tell so many different stories at once and have it done well, so I was so impressed with the way We Deserve Monuments wrapped it all up. I also loved how complex the characters were. I highly recommend giving this a read!

A powerful read focusing on issues such as racism and homophobia in the South. An eye opening and impactful story that should be read and heard by teenagers everywhere

💭Synopsis & Thoughts:
This is a deep and engaging, coming of age story about the struggles of racism, homophobia, and intergenerational trauma in a small town in the South. Avery is a strong protagonist and the narration really brought her to life.

Avery moves from Washington DC to small town Bardell, Georgia to help take care of her ailing grandmother, Mama Letty. Avery is starting her senior year of high school and planning for college. What Avery doesn’t know is all the secrets Bardell has in store for her. The author did a fabulous job with the pacing and how Avery slowly uncovers the past traumas of her family and new town.

During her first few days of school, she develops a very close friendship with Simone and Jade. It was fun to watch these friendships develop and evolve. Their adventures really add to the depth of the story. The evolution of Avery and Simone’s friendship into something more was enjoyable to read about too. I don’t want to give to much more away about the plot, as I think the way it unfolds is the best part.

I really can’t say enough good things about this book. It had me running the gambit of emotions. I laughed, I cried, and I really felt for this family. I can’t imagine going through what some of these characters have gone through, especially Mama Letty.

4.25 stars

The representation in this book is fantastic, with the majority of the main characters being POC and some also identifying as LGBTQ+. The story is character-driven, following a family with secrets and trauma, trying to have a few last moments together before the grandmother (aka Mama Letty) passes away.

I thought the writing was well executed and the characters were interesting. There are a lot of deep issues discussed and while the story can get kind of heavy, the ending is hopeful for Avery, Simone, and Jade. It's a knock you down, pick you back up kind of book and I hope readers will enjoy following the Anderson women through their journey back together.

The audiobook is well narrated and I enjoyed listening to this wonderful debut.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for the copy